New Zealand Lemonade lemon hybrid

Citrus limettioides Tanaka RUTACEAE

CRC 4181
PI 658373
VI 734

Source

Received as budwood from Nuccio's Nursery, Altadena, Calif., via CCPP, 2007. Original source is from New Zealand.

Parentage/origins

Parents unknown.

Rootstocks of accession

Yuma Ponderosa Lemon, Schaub Rough Lemon

Season of ripeness at Riverside

January to April

Notes and observations

3/1/2010, TJS and RRK: 'Lemonade' is reported to be a sweet lemon hybrid of unknown parentage with a very pleasant taste, and can be readily but not easily peeled. The fruit is small-medium, and not very seedy. The trees are semi-dwarfed (on trifoliate rootstock), but quite productive. The main crop matures in early spring in New Zealand, with much smaller summer crops also occurring. Unfortunately there is no commercial production in New Zealand, although it is a popular home garden tree. It is susceptible to citrus scab disease, however in a drier climate this should be less of a problem. (This information redacted from an email from Andrew Harty via Peter Chaires, 12/07/2005) Although the budsource trees are derived from trees at the Citrus Clonal Protection Program that tested negative for all known graft-transmissible diseases, trees of ‘Lemonade’ propagated in Riverside have shown a tendency to develop small brown to black lesions on the bark. The reason for these lesions is currently unknown. ‘Lemonade’ trees propagated at Riverside are not particularly vigorous but the relationships of this to the observed lesions is not known.